INTERNATIONALS: CHALOBAH HELPS YOUNG ENGLAND EXTEND LEAD

Nathaniel Chalobah played the full game as England Under-21s beat Wales U21s to close in on a place in the qualification play-offs for the 2015 European Championships.

The result in Swansea was 3-1 with Norwich’s Nathan Redmond scoring all of England’s goals. Wales equalised two minutes after the 18th-minute opener but Gareth Southgate’s side were back ahead by the break and completed the scoring in stoppage time at the end of the game.

Josh McEachran was not involved but Chalobah, who has been on loan at Middlesbrough, played in a midfield role.

Having won seven and drawn one of their qualifiers, England with two group games left to play have a nine-point lead over Moldova who have three games left, but their far inferior goal difference makes England firm favourites to progress to the play-off stage.

The squad coached by Southgate with Steve Holland as his assistant now travel to southern France to take part in the Toulon Tournament, where they will play in a group stage against Under-21 teams from Brazil, Colombia, South Korea and Qatar, who they face in their first game on Thursday.